Happy Mother’s Day! To my lovely and amazing Mom, and to all the wonderful mothers around the world. To celebrate, here’s a post from the archives: 10 things my mom knew were awesome before I did.
Graham and I are in Michigan this week, so I get to spend some lovely time with my Mom for her birthday and mother’s day. On her birthday we had a bonfire with hot dogs and S’mores. Yesterday we went to the town of Allen – the “Antiques Capital of World” and did some major antiquing.
On Wednesday Graham and I are going to head upstate and do a bit of spring camping. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for good weather!
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This week I shared my April Polysyllabic Spree (books bought and read in April), which includes mini-reviews of every book I had not previously reviewed. I also shared the ten books I will probably never read, which generated a lot of conversation in the comments – it seems I need to reconsider a few of them! I also posted a travelogue about our experience hiking the Lares Trek in Peru – the hardest thing I’ve ever done.
READING
I finished The Penderwicks in Spring, which was lovely and didn’t make me cry as hard as I feared from the jacket blurb. (I just welled up a wee bit.) Now I’m enjoying Slightly Foxed #45 and pondering what book to start next. (Also: I’ve decided to start counting literary quarterlies I read as “books read” each month. They take longer to read than some novellas or graphic novels, and I find I’m more motivated to read them from cover to cover if I don’t feel like it’s “taking away” from book reading time. Does anyone else do this? Or have strong opinions one way or the other?)
WATCHING
Graham had never seen Pitch Perfect before, so we watched that this week in preparation for the sequel. He’s also never seen Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, one of me and my brother’s favorite shows, so we’ve been re-watching from series one – it’s such a treat. Whenohwhen will series 3 be available in the US?!
LISTENING
I’m listening to I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. I read it back in 2008 when it came out, and it’s been fun to listen to the audiobook edition as a re-read. It was pretty much the first collection of essays I ever read, so I’ve been interested in revisiting it again now that I’ve read so many others.
LINKING
- Atlas Obscura is hosting Obscura Day 2015 with events all over the world. Their events are a great way to explore the place you live – the unusual, off the beaten path parts of it.
- I’ve been to 5 of these 10 coolest bookshops in Britain. I must visit the others!
- My long-time blog/online friend Maria has relaunched/rebranded her blog, and it’s so lovely. She lives in England, and posts wonderful photos from the countryside, Oxford, London, and her travel adventures. Her blog features her photography and posts about books, life, cooking, etc. Check out her blog here: A Little Adventure.
- I have the urge to bake a cake just so that I can try this recipe for Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from Joy the Baker. Doesn’t it look heavenly?
Fun post, Emily! Your camping sounds delightful. Can one use camping and delightful in the same sentence? I think so. I love the list of things your mom discovered to be awesome before you did. And I vote a hearty “Yes!” as to whether to count quarterlies as books read. I had never heard of the one you’re reading, it sounds pretty interesting. Are there others you read that you would recommend? I also can’t wait for PP2. I never thought that movie would be in my wheelhouse, but I adored it. It also taught me a great deal, I am in love with Amy’s horizontal workout program. :)
Yay! Happy to have more support for my new Quarterly rule. Slightly foxed is so wonderful! It does add quite a few books to my TBR list, which is never necessary, but the essays are so delightful. Even if I don’t want to read the book, I’m usually glad to have read the essay anyway – to learn a bit more about an unknown novel or an author’s life or a point in history. They are also very well written – I don’t know how they do it issue after issue, all the contributors are fantastic.
I’ve severely limited the quarterlies I’m allowed to buy these days. I used to subscribe or buy so many of them, and they’d often sit around hardly read. I do still love Tin House and the Paris Review, but I buy them issue by issue now depending on the contents. The Paris Review has great interviews and fiction, but sometimes I’m not super into the authors so I skip those ones.
I can’t wait for PP2 either! And 100% agree re: Amy’s horizontal workout program. She’s the best.
PS – I’m of the opinion that camping and delightful can definitely be used in the same sentence, especially when one has a lovely air mattress for the tent that prevents a horribly sore back. :D :D
I agree about camping, I have such fond memories of dad cooking onions on the griddle, our neighbor melting the soles of her tennis shoes by the campfire, listening to the hijinks of the parents while us kids were in the tent supposedly asleep. Good stuff.
Some of these quarterlies sound great, I’m going to have to go to my local magazine shop and see if I can track some down. I thank you, my TBR list shakes its fist at you in mock outrage. :)
Boy, that is one beautiful Momma!
Whoever is married to her is one lucky dude.
I happen to know she’s married to a very handsome boy.
Thanks for the shout-out Emily! :)
I had a look at Slighly Foxed and it sounds interesting. I have never read any literary quarterlies and I’m intrigued. I plan on visiting Blackwells this week so I’ll have a look to see what’s available in the UK.
I bookmarked that chocolate buttercream frosting recipe as well. It probably won’t be long before I give it a try…
You’re very welcome! :)
Slightly Foxed is a UK pub, so hopefully you won’t have any trouble finding it. Take a look when you see it – I think you might love it too!